System and method for streaming media to a public safety access point without incurring additional user costs

ABSTRACT

Techniques for streaming media to a public safety access point without incurring additional user costs are provided. A media stream from a mobile device is received at a communications network. The media stream being streamed from the mobile device to a social media platform in a first format. A request from a Public Safety Access Point to stream the media from the mobile device in a second format is received at the communications network. A request is sent to the mobile device to send the media stream in the second format. The media stream received from the mobile device in the second format is converted to the first format. The media stream received in the second format is sent to the Public Safety Access Point. The converted media stream in the first format is sent to the social media platform.

BACKGROUND

In today's world, the presence of media recording devices, such as videocameras is every increasing. An ever increasing number of adults, andchildren, may constantly carry at least one device (e.g. smartphone,tablet, etc.) that is capable of recording media. For example, allmodern smartphones are equipped with a video camera. In most cases, thedevices are also capable of streaming that captured media live, via acommunications network, to a media receiver. For example, media may bestreamed live via 3^(rd) generation (3G) cellular networks, 4^(th)generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, and 5 ^(th) generationnetworks (5G).

In many cases the destination for live streamed media may be a socialnetwork website that is available to the public. For example, Facebook™,Instagram™ Snapchat™, Twitch™, etc. all provide the ability to receive alive media stream from their users. When an event of interest occurs(e.g. natural disaster, riot, fire, active shooter, etc.), the firstreaction of many bystanders is to pull out their smartphone and beginrecording and streaming the event to a social media site, such as one ofthe example social media sites previously mentioned. The streamed mediaof the event of interest can then be viewed by the public.

The availability of streamed media that captures events of interest canbe very valuable for public safety personnel. For example, if a crime isoccurring, such as an active shooter incident, and someone is livestreaming media from the incident scene, this can be very helpful to lawenforcement personnel. As such, public safety officials may monitor livevideo streams from various social media sites to learn about incidentsthat may require a public safety response.

In addition, sophisticated video analytics techniques may be used bypublic safety officials to automatically monitor live streamed media andraise an alert for further investigation when an event of interest isnoted. For example, video/audio analytics may be run to the livestreamed video to detect the presence of gunshots. If gunshots aredetected, a public safety official may be given an alert to furtherinvestigate the circumstances surrounding the gunshot detection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying figures similar or the same reference numerals maybe repeated to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Thesefigures, together with the detailed description, below are incorporatedin and form part of the specification and serve to further illustratevarious embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, andto explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example 5G system in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example block diagram of a communication device inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example NFV architecture 300 in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example environment in which a format change maybe requested without incurring additional costs according to thetechniques described herein.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example environment in which a format changerequest may be accepted without incurring additional costs according tothe techniques described herein.

FIG. 6 is an example of a message sequence diagram in accordance withthe techniques described herein.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are an example of a flow diagram in accordance with thestreaming media without incurring additional user costs techniquesdescribed herein.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to helpimprove understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the ability to identify events of interest in real time as theyare streamed to social media is very valuable to public safetypersonnel, several problems exist. One of those problems may be that thestreamed media is not being provided in a format that is usable bypublic safety personnel for public safety purposes, although still beingsatisfactory for social media purposes. For example, public safetypersonnel may need streamed video to be in a higher resolution forevidentiary purposes. A video stream at 720p (i.e. standard definition)may be suitable for viewing on a social media website, but might not beof sufficient quality for use as evidence for person identification in acourt room. A lower resolution stream may not be suitable for certainvideo analytics (e.g. facial recognition, weapons detection, etc.).

There are several reasons why solving this problem is not simply amatter of streaming to the social media platform at a quality suitablefor public safety use. Initially, the social media platforms themselvesmay not be capable of handling video streamed in a higher quality. Somesocial media sites may even limit the bandwidth available to streammedia to the site. In addition, streaming the higher quality media mayuse more data on the sender's data plan. If the sender does not have anunlimited data usage, streaming at the higher quality could end upincurring additional costs on the end user.

The problems are not only limited to bandwidth constraints associatedwith streaming media at a higher quality. In many cases, metadataassociated with the media stream may be sent to the social media site,but that metadata is not made available to the public via the socialmedia site. For example, the metadata may include global positioningsystem (GPS) data indicating where the source of the streaming media islocated. Although that information may be provided to the social mediasite operator, it might not be made available to the public that isaccessing the social media site to view the stream. Such metadata may beuseful for public safety purposes.

The techniques described herein solve these problems individually andcollectively. A user may stream media to a social networking site.Public safety may determine that a particular media stream is ofinterest, but the media parameters (e.g. resolution, frame rate, videocodec, etc.) are not suitable for public safety use. A request is sentto the network infrastructure to request the media stream in a formatacceptable to the public safety user. The network infrastructurecommunicates with the media streamers device to request that the mediastream be sent using parameters that are suitable for public safety use.

The user device may receive the request to begin streaming media usingdifferent parameters. In some implementations, the user may need toaccept the request and has the option of denying the request. Assumingthe user accepts the request, the user device begins streaming the mediausing the requested parameters to the network infrastructure. Thenetwork infrastructure then provide the media stream with the requestedparameters to the public safety requestor. In addition, metadataassociated with the media stream is also provided to the public safetyrequester.

The network infrastructure will also convert the stream from the newformat (e.g. using the parameters requested by the public safetyrequester) back to the original media stream that was being sent to thesocial media site and complies with the requirements of the social mediasite. As such, the social media site is not receiving anything differentthan what was previously being received. In fact, the social media siteneed not even be aware that the higher quality media stream is beingsent to the public safety requester. What should be noted is that onlythe media stream that has been converted and sent to the social mediasite will pass through the network charging function. Thus the usersdata usage would only be charged as if the original media stream wasbeing sent to the social networking site.

A method is provided. The method includes receiving, at a communicationsnetwork, a media stream from a mobile device, the media stream beingstreamed from the mobile device to a social media platform, the mediastream being streamed in a first format. The method further includesreceiving, at the communications network, a request from a Public SafetyAccess Point (PSAP), to stream the media stream from the mobile deviceto the PSAP, the request including a request for the media stream fromthe mobile device in a second format. The method further includessending a request to the mobile device to send the media stream in thesecond format. The method further includes converting the media streamreceived from the mobile device in the second format to the firstformat. The method further includes sending the media stream received inthe second format to the PSAP. The method further includes sending theconverted media stream in the first format to the social media platform.

In one aspect of the method, the first format and the second format aredifferent resolutions, wherein the second format is a higher resolutionthan the first format. In one aspect of the method the first format andthe second format are different frame rates, wherein the second formatis higher frame rate than the first format. In one aspect of the methodthe first format and the second format are different media codecs. Inone aspect of the method the media stream received in the second formatthat is sent to the PSAP bypasses a charging function of thecommunications network associated with the mobile device. In one aspectof the method the media stream received in the second format that issent to the PSAP is sent via a network slice that is different than anetwork slice used to send the media stream in the first format to thesocial media platform.

In one aspect of the method the communications network further comprisesa 5G Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) node configured to receive the requestfrom the PSAP, convert the media stream received from the mobile devicein the second format to the first format, send the media stream receivedin the second format to the PSAP, and send the converted media stream inthe first format to the social media platform.

In one aspect of the method the converted media stream is sent via adedicated network slice. In one aspect the method further comprisesreceiving a response from the mobile device, the response indicating themobile device has accepted the request to send the media stream in thesecond format. In one aspect the method further comprises sendingmetadata associated with the social media platform to the PSAP.

A system is provided. The system includes a processor and a memorycoupled to the processor. The memory contains a set of instructions thatwhen executed by the processor causes the processor to receive, at acommunications network, a media stream from a mobile device, the mediastream being streamed from the mobile device to a social media platform,the media stream being streamed in a first format. The memory alsoincludes instructions that cause the processor to receive, at thecommunications network, a request from a Public Safety Access Point(PSAP), to stream the media stream from the mobile device to the PSAP,the request including a request for the media stream from the mobiledevice in a second format. The memory also includes instructions thatcause the processor to send a request to the mobile device to send themedia stream in the second format. The memory also includes instructionsthat cause the processor to convert the media stream received from themobile device in the second format to the first format. The memory alsoincludes instructions that cause the processor to send the media streamreceived in the second format to the PSAP. The memory also includesinstructions that cause the processor to send the converted media streamin the first format to the social media platform.

In one aspect of the system the media stream received in the secondformat that is sent to the PSAP bypasses a charging function of thecommunications network associated with the mobile device. In one aspectof the system the communications network further comprises a 5G MobileEdge Computing (MEC) node configured to receive the request from thePSAP, convert the media stream received from the mobile device in thesecond format to the first format, send the media stream received in thesecond format to the PSAP, and send the converted media stream in thefirst format to the social media platform. In one aspect of the system,the memory further comprises instructions to receive a response from themobile device, the response indicating the mobile device has acceptedthe request to send the media stream in the second format. In one aspectof the system, the memory further comprises instructions send metadataassociated with the social media platform to the PSAP.

A non-transitory processor readable medium containing a set ofinstructions thereon is provided. The instructions on the medium, thatwhen executed by a processor cause the processor to receive, at acommunications network, a media stream from a mobile device, the mediastream being streamed from the mobile device to a social media platform,the media stream being streamed in a first format. The instructions onthe medium further cause the processor to receive, at the communicationsnetwork, a request from a Public Safety Access Point (PSAP), to streamthe media stream from the mobile device to the PSAP, the requestincluding a request for the media stream from the mobile device in asecond format. The instructions on the medium further cause theprocessor to send a request to the mobile device to send the mediastream in the second format. The instructions on the medium furthercause the processor to convert the media stream received from the mobiledevice in the second format to the first format. The instructions on themedium further cause the processor to send the media stream received inthe second format to the PSAP. The instructions on the medium furthercause the processor to send the converted media stream in the firstformat to the social media platform.

In one aspect of the medium the media stream received in the secondformat that is sent to the PSAP bypasses a charging function of thecommunications network associated with the mobile device. In one aspectof the medium the communications network further comprises a 5G MobileEdge Computing (MEC) node configured to receive the request from thePSAP, convert the media stream received from the mobile device in thesecond format to the first format, send the media stream received in thesecond format to the PSAP, and send the converted media stream in thefirst format to the social media platform. In one aspect the mediumfurther comprises instructions to receive a response from the mobiledevice, the response indicating the mobile device has accepted therequest to send the media stream in the second format. In one aspect themedium further comprises instructions to send metadata associated withthe social media platform to the PSAP.

Further advantages and features consistent with this disclosure will beset forth in the following detailed description, with reference to thefigures. The following description and the drawings sufficientlyillustrate specific aspects to enable those skilled in the art topractice them. Other aspects may incorporate structural, logical,electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of someaspects may be included in, or substituted for, those of other aspects.Aspects set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents ofthose claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.5G system 100 may be capable of delivering data using enhancedcharacteristics compared with other systems, such as streaming of up toabout 1 Gbps, file download speeds of up to about 20 Gbps, latencies aslow as about 1 ms, and device connection densities of about 10⁶devices/km², for example. 5G system 100 includes multiple 5G networkfunctions (NFs). A network function can be implemented as a discretenetwork element on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance runningon dedicated hardware, or as a virtualized function instantiated on anappropriate platform, e.g., dedicated hardware or a cloudinfrastructure. Although not shown, RAN 104 may be connected with anevolved packet core (EPC) (or a RAN connected with the EPC), thatincludes mobility management entities (MME), serving gateways (S-GWs),and packet data network gateways (P-GWs), among others. RAN 104 may be5G base stations (referred to as gNodeBs or gNBs) 104. gNB 104 may alsoinclude, or be connected to, an eNB or a general non-3GPP access point,such as that for Wi-Fi. gNB 104 may be a standalone gNB or anon-standalone gNB, e.g., operating in Dual Connectivity (DC) mode as abooster controlled by an evolved nodeB (eNB) through an X2 or Xninterface.

In 5G system 100, the control plane (CP) functionalities and the userplane (UP) functionalities are separated. This separation permitsindependent deployment and adaptation of the 5G system for each operatorusing the 5G system.

As shown, 5G system 100 includes gNB 104 in communication with UEs 102as well as a number of elements specific to the architecture of 5Gsystem 100 (5G core network (CN)). These 5G CN elements include a UserPlane Function (UPF) 106, an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) 110,an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 112, a SessionManagement Function (SMF) 114, a Unified Data Management (UDM) 116, aPolicy Control Function (PCF) 118, and an Application Function (AF) 120.The UPF 106 may be connected to a Data network (DN) 108, which provides,for example operator services, Internet access, or other 3rd partyservices. The various elements are connected by the point-to-pointreference points (e.g., N1, N2) shown.

UE 102 may generate, encode and encrypt uplink transmissions to, anddecode and decrypt downlink transmissions from, gNB 104. A similarfunctionality may be provided by the entity in communication with UE102. UPF 106 may be connected with a data network, with which UE 102 maycommunicate, UE 102 transmitting uplink data to or receiving downlinkdata from the data network. UPF 106 may, in addition to being the pointof connection to DN 108, provide routing and forwarding of packets to UE102. UPF 106 may also provide QoS handling as well as Deep PacketInspection (DPI) for packet inspection and classification. UPF 106 mayalso integrate Firewall and Network Address Translation (NAT)functionality and act as an anchor for Intra RAT and Inter-RAThandovers.

AMF 112 may provide, among other functions, UE-based authentication,authorization, mobility management, security context, connection andregistration management, and non-access stratum (NAS) signalingtermination. SMF 114 may be responsible for, among others, sessionmanagement (including establishment, modification, and termination of asession, and NAS signaling termination of the session), providingDynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) functionality, allocation andmanagement of IP addresses to UE 102, and providing notification ofdownlink data to UE 102. SMF 114 may also select and control UPF 106 fordata transfer, including providing the traffic steering configuration.SMF 114 may thus act as the interface for all user plane communicationand may determine how the policy and charging for these services isapplied. SMF 114 may be associated with a single session of UE 102 ormultiple 5G sessions of UE 102. Note that while UE 102 may have multiplesessions, each session may be allocated to a different SMF 114, therebyallowing each session to be individually managed. As a consequence, thefunctionalities of each session may be independent of each other.

AF 120 may provide information on the packet flow to the PCF 118responsible for policy control to support a desired QoS. AF 120 may alsoprovide access to the network exposure function (NEF) (not shown), whichpermits exposure of the services and capabilities provided by thenetwork functions in a secure manner to an external (non-3GPP)application. The NEF provisions the control plane parameters and managespacket flow descriptors (protocol, server-side IP and port number).Similarly, the network repository function (NRF) (not shown) in thenetwork maintains the network profile of UE 102 and available networkfunction instances, as well as supporting the service discoveryfunction, thereby permitting the network functions to discover eachother. Also, a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) in the networkmay select the Network Slice instances to serve UE 102, determineallowed Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (NSSAI) anddetermine the appropriate AMF 110 to serve UE 102. The NSSF may thusredirect traffic in the network to the appropriate network slice, whichmay be defined for different classes of subscribers.

AUSF 110 may store data for UE authentication, including keys, acting asan authentication server for UE 102. UDM 116 may similarly store the UEsubscription data (including generation of Authentication and KeyAgreement (AKA) credentials for UE 102), supporting access authorizationof UE 102 as well as subscription management for UE 102.

PCF 118 may provide policy rules for the control plane functions for UE102, including mobility and session management policies. To this end,PCF 118 may use the packet flow information to determine the appropriatecontrol plane policies for proper operation of AMF 112 and SMF 114. PCF118 may access subscription information for policy decisions and supportthe 5G QoS policy and charging control functions. PCF 118 thus takescare of network policies to manage network behavior. PCF 118 obtains thesubscription information from UDM 116 and interfaces to SMF 114 tomanage the session contexts and to AMF 110 to manage the mobilitycontext. PCF 118 triggers the UE route selection policy (URSP) whichenables the UE to determine how a particular application should behandled in the context of an existing or new PDU (Packet Data Unit)session. The URSP may provide the UE with information about a newnetwork slice configuration; the slice ID of the network slice may thusbe communicated from PCF 118.

Note that various specialized servers are not show in FIG. 1 forconvenience. As mentioned above, 5G system 100 may include multiple 5Gnetwork functions (NFs). that can be implemented as a discrete networkelement on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance running ondedicated hardware, or as a virtualized function instantiated on anappropriate platform, e.g., dedicated hardware or a cloudinfrastructure. One example of such a network function is a Mobile EdgeComputing (MEC) node that may be utilized to implement the techniquesdescribed herein. A MEC will be described in further detail below.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication device 200 inaccordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, communicationdevice 200 may be a personal device, such as a UE, or a network device,such as one or more of those described in relation to FIG. 1 (e.g., agNB, an eNB, or other equipment used in the network environment).Communication device 200 may include a physical device and/or a virtualdevice, such as a server running one or more virtual network functions(VNFs) of the network shown in FIG. 1 . In various examples,communication device 200 may be a specialized computer, a personal orlaptop computer (PC), a tablet PC, a mobile telephone, a smartphone, anetwork router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executinginstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. In some embodiments, communication device 200 may be aninternet-of-things (IoT) or a narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) device or otherdevice embedded within other, non-communication-based devices such asappliances or vehicles.

Communication device 200 may include various components connected by abus 212. Communication device 200 may include a hardware processor 202such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) or other processingcircuitry able to provide any of the functionality described herein whenrunning instructions. Processor 202 may be connected to a memory 204 mayinclude a non-transitory processor readable medium on which is storedone or more sets of instructions. Memory 204 may include one or more ofstatic or dynamic storage, or removable or non-removable storage, forexample. A processor readable medium may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution byprocessor 202, such as solid-state memories, magnetic media, and opticalmedia. processor readable medium may include, for example, ElectricallyProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), orflash memory.

The instructions may enable communication device 200 to operate in anymanner thus programmed, such as the functionality described specificallyherein, when processor 202 executes the instructions. The processorreadable medium may be stored as a single medium or in multiple media,in a centralized or distributed manner. In some embodiments,instructions may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network via a network interface 210 utilizing any one ofa number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol(IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP),hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.).

Network interface 210 may thus enable communication device 200 tocommunicate data and control information with other devices via wired orwireless communication. Network interface 210 may include electroniccomponents such as a transceiver that enables serial or parallelcommunication. The wireless connections may use one or more protocols,including Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Wi-Fi802.11, 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE)/4G, 5G, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), or peer-to-peer (P2P), for example, orshort-range protocols such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, or near fieldcommunication (NFC). Wireless communication may occur in one or morebands, such as the 800-900 MHz range, 1.8-1.9 GHz range, 2.3-2.4 GHzrange, 60 GHz range, and others, including infrared (IR) communications.Example communication networks to which communication device 200 may beconnected via network interface 210 may include a local area network(LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., theInternet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), andwireless data networks. Communication device 200 may be connected to thenetworks via one or more wired connectors, such as a universal serialbus (USB), and/or one or more wireless connections, and physical jacks(e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or antennas.

Communication device 200 may further include one or more sensors 206,such as one or more of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, a thermometer, a magnetometer, abarometer, a pedometer, a proximity sensor, and an ambient light sensor,among others. Sensors 206 may include some, all, or none of one or moreof the types of sensors above (although other types of sensors may alsobe present), as well as one or more sensors of each type.

Sensors 206 may be used in conjunction with one or more userinput/output (I/O) devices 208. User I/O devices 208 may include one ormore of a display, a camera, a speaker, a keyboard, a microphone, amouse (or other navigation device), or a fingerprint scanner, amongothers. User I/O devices 208 may include some, all, or none of one ormore of the types of I/O devices above (although other types of I/Odevices may also be present), as well as one or more I/O devices of eachtype.

Communication device 200 may include different specific elementsdepending on the particular device. For example, although not shown, insome embodiments communication device 200 may include a front end thatincorporates a millimeter and sub-millimeter wave radio front end moduleintegrated circuit (RFIC) connected to the same or different antennae.The RFICs may include processing circuitry that implements processing ofsignals for the desired protocol (e.g., medium access control (MAC),radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radioresource control (RRC) and non-access stratum (NAS) functionality) usingone or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or morememory structures to store program and data information. The RFICs mayfurther include digital baseband circuitry, which may implement physicallayer functionality (such as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)functionality and encoding/decoding, among others), transmit and receivecircuitry (which may contain digital-to-analog and analog-to-digitalconverters, up/down frequency conversion circuitry, filters, andamplifiers, among others), and RF circuitry with one or more parallel RFchains for transmit/receive functionality (which may contain filters,amplifiers, phase shifters, up/down frequency conversion circuitry, andpower combining and dividing circuitry, among others), as well ascontrol circuitry to control the other RFIC circuitry.

As indicated above, one or more of the network devices shown in FIG. 1may be implemented, not by physical implementations, but by VNFs. VNFshave taken on increasing significance due to the increasing complexityof the 5G network. In particular, it may be costly or difficult, atbest, to update or replace physical network devices when thefunctionality of the network devices (such as the mobility managemententity (MME) and serving and packet data gateways in LTE and 5Garchitectures and the AMF and SMF in 5G architectures) is to be altered.Software may thus be used to permit general purpose computers in acentralized or distributed manner to provide one or more networkfunctions as one or more VNFs of a Network Function Virtualization (NFV)architecture. The NFV architecture may support multiple independentnetworks (slices) that may each contain all of the functionalityavailable in the NFV architecture.

FIG. 3 illustrates an NFV architecture 300 in accordance with someembodiments. NFV architecture 300 functions to both implement slices andmanage and orchestrate the slices so implemented over the life cycle ofeach slice. The life cycle of each slice may include commissioning(creation/instantiation) of the slice, operation or maintenance of theslice (including activation, supervision, reporting, modification, andde-activation), and decommissioning (termination) of the slice.

NFV architecture 300 may include physical components that implementvirtualized components with different functionality. NFV architecture300 may be implemented by, for example, a data center comprising one ormore servers in the cloud. NFV architecture 300 may include one or morephysical devices and multiple applications hosted on one or moreplatforms. These platforms may include, among others, a localizedplatform, such as a server, or a distributed platform, such as a cloudcomputing platform or other distributed computing platform. NFVarchitecture 300 as illustrated may include Network Elements (NEs) 302,Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) 304, a Network Virtualization FunctionInfrastructure (NVFI) 306, a Network Functions VirtualizationOrchestrater (NFV-MANO) 320, a Domain Manager (DM) 330, and anOperations Support System/Business Support System (OSS/BSS) 340.

NEs 302 may provide physical components (physical networkfunctions-PNFs), such as dedicated hardware (e.g., processors, antennas,amplifiers, isolators, clock circuitry, transmit and receive chains,among others), as well as software. NFV architecture 300 may includemultiple Network Functions (NFs), which each provides a specificfunctional behavior and has well-defined external interfaces.

VNFs 304 may be an implementation (both components and connectivity wheninstantiated) of at least one NF instantiated in or deployed on (runson) NFVI 310. The VNF thus provides functionality of the NF(s), elementssupporting the NF functionalities (e.g., library, database, protocolstacks), and elements enabling VNF 304 to run on NFVI 310. The NFfunctionality and NF elements supporting the NF functionality in eachVNF 304 may be managed by an element manager (EM) 306 in that VNF 304.Each VNF 304 may provide a network function that is decoupled from atleast some of the infrastructure resources (computational resources,networking resources, memory) used to provide the NF. VNFs 304 can bechained together to realize a desired network service. The virtualizedresources may provide VNFs 304 with desired network resources.

VNFs 304, like NEs 302, may be managed by one or more EMs 306. EM 306may provide functions for management of virtual or physical networkelements, depending on the instantiation. EM 306 may manage individualNEs 302 and NEs 302 of a sub-network, which may include relationsbetween NEs 302. For example, EM 306 of a VNF 304 may be responsible forconfiguration for the NFs provided by VNF 304, fault management for thenetwork functions provided by VNF 304, accounting for the usage of VNFfunctions of VNF 304, and collecting performance measurement results forthe functions provided by VNF 304.

NFVI 310 includes all hardware and software in the environment in whichVNFs 310 are deployed. NFVI 310 contains a NFVI node that has one ormore physical devices deployed and managed as a single entity to providethe NFVI functions to support the VNF environment. NFVI 310 may controlVNFs 304 via Vn-Nf reference points. Although not shown, NVFI 310 maycontain both virtualized and non-virtualized resources that providecomputational abilities, storage (either block or file-system level) andnetworking elements that may include networks, subnets, ports,addresses, links and forwarding rules to ensure intra- and inter-VNFconnectivity.

NFV-MANO 320 may include a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) 322,a VNF Manager (VNFM) 324, and a Network Function VirtualizationOrchestrator (NFVO) 326. NFV-MANO 320 may manage NFVI 310. NFV-MANO 320may create or terminate a VNF 320, increase or decrease VNF capacity, orupdate or upgrade software and/or configuration of a VNF 304. NFV-MANO320 may have access to various data repositories including networkservices, VNFs available, NFV instances and NFVI resources with which todetermine resource allocation.

NFV-MANO 320 may thus orchestrate the instantiation of network services,and the allocation of resources used by VNFs 304. NFV-MANO 320 may,along with OSS/BSS 340, be used by external entities to deliver variousNFV business benefits. OSS/BSS 340 may include the collection of systemsand management applications that a service provider may use to operatetheir business: management of customers, ordering, products andrevenues—for example, payment or account transactions, as well astelecommunications network components and supporting processes includingnetwork component configuration, network service provisioning and faulthandling.

VIM 322 is responsible for controlling and managing the NFVI resources,including the compute, storage and network resources. VIM 322 may bespecialized in handling a particular type of NFVI resource (e.g.,compute-only, storage-only, networking-only), or may be capable ofmanaging multiple types of NFVI resources. VIM 322 may orchestrate theallocation/upgrade/release/reclamation of NFVI resources (including theoptimization of such resources usage) and manage the association of thevirtualized resources to the physical compute, storage, networkingresources, and manage repository inventory-related information of NFVIhardware resources (compute, storage, networking) and software resources(e.g., hypervisors), and discovery of the capabilities and features(e.g., related to usage optimization) of such resources. To this end,VIM 322 may control and manage the NFVI resources via Nf-Vi referencepoints. VIM 322 may further collect and forward performance measurementsand events to VNFM 324 via Vi-VNFM reference point and to NFVO 326 viathe Or-Vi reference point.

VNFM 324 is responsible for the lifecycle management of VNFs 324 througha Ve-Vnfm-vnf reference point. VNFM 324 may orchestrate NFVI resourcesvia VIM 322 and provide overall coordination and adaptation forconfiguration and event reporting between VIM 322 and EMs 306 andNetwork Managers (NMs) 342 via a Ve-Vnfm-em reference point. VNFM 350may be assigned the management of a single VNF 320, or the management ofmultiple VNFs 320 of the same type or of different types. To this end,VNFM 324 may discover available services, manage virtualized resourceavailability/allocation/release and provide virtualized resourcefault/performance management, in addition to providing service lifecyclemanagement that may include instantiating a VNF, modifying the VNFinstances, and terminating the network service, as well as releasing theNFVI resources for the service to the NFVI resource pool to be used byother services.

NFVO 326 manages the Network Service (NS) lifecycle and coordinates themanagement of the NS lifecycle, the VNF lifecycle (supported by theVNFM) and the NFVI resources (supported by VIM 322) to ensure anoptimized allocation of the necessary resources and connectivity. NFVO326 may coordinate VNFs 304 as part of network services that jointlyrealize a more complex function, including joint instantiation andconfiguration, configuring connections between different VNFs 304 andmanaging dynamic changes of the configuration. NFVO 326 may provide thisorchestration through an OS-Ma-NFVO reference point with NM 342 of theOSS/BSS 340, which may also include a domain manager (DM) 330 thatitself contains an EM 332.

EMs 306, 322 (whether in a VNF 306 or NE 302) may be managed by NM 342of OSS/BSS 340 through Itf-N reference points. NM 342 may providefunctions with the responsibility for the management of a network,mainly as supported by EM 332 but may also involve direct access to thenetwork elements. NM 342 may connect and disconnect VNF externalinterfaces to physical network function interfaces at the request ofNFVO 326.

As above, with the advent of 5G networks and disparate types of devices(such as Machine Type Communication (MTC), enhanced Mobile Broadband(eMBB) and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC)devices) using these networks, network management and network slicing isevolving towards a service-based architecture in which virtualization isused. To provide network management and slicing, network provisioningand resource management, fault supervision, performance management (PM)and reporting, and management data analytics may be enabled.

Network slicing is virtualization that uses the architecture shown inFIG. 3 to provide multiple configurable logical and independent networksas independent network slice instances (NSIs) to different consumers,such as eMBB, healthcare, automotive, safety or mission critical, andIoT users. Each NSI may provide a desired network service, which isisolated from the network resources of other NSIs and may thus allow anoptimized topology and specific configuration to be developed for eachNSI based on the desired network services. Examples of various networkservices may include big data, edge computing, cloud storage, andplatform security, among others. The configuration may enable variousaspects of network capability to be tailored for the NSI. These aspectsmay include guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS), throughput, latency,reachability, data security, mobility, and massive connectivity, amongothers.

For example, an eMBB NSI may be designed to contend with large datavolumes and increased data capacity and user density, a massive MTC NSImay be designed to support large numbers of connected devices with lowdata rates, and a URLLC NSI may be designed to cater formission-critical situations and devices. In particular, an NSI designedfor a massive number of IoT devices, which may have unique charging andcontrol functionality that are dependent on the industry requesting theNSI—in one instance, real-time vehicle traffic information, which maycollect a large number of disparate pieces of information from MTCterminals in vehicles and infrastructure for analysis and disseminationto users (e.g., map updates and route determination). Vehiclesthemselves may use a different NSI to enable URLLC for autonomousdriving, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, and data gathering andanalysis from telemetry sensors, while also providing high throughputfor entertainment functionality.

Each NSI may contain one or more Network Slice Subnet Instance (NSSIs)that are each associated with different portions of the core network(CN) or access network. An NSSI represents a group of NFs and may beassociated with one or more NSIs. This permits the lifecycle of the NSSIto be managed independently from the lifecycle of an NSI. The NSSIs maybe implemented as different core networks, such RAN and 5GC.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example environment 400 in which a format changemay be requested without incurring additional costs according to thetechniques described herein. FIG. 4 includes a user 410 who is inpossession of a device 411 that is capable of recording media. Forexample, the device may be a smartphone that is equipped with a camerathat is capable of recording video. Device 411 may generally be a devicethat could be implemented on the physical hardware described withrespect to FIG. 2 .

Although the most common type of media that is recorded will be video(including associated audio) it should be understood that the techniquesdescribed herein are not so limited. Media could include stillphotographs, audio, or any other type of media. What should beunderstood is that the media is capable of being transmitted via anetwork and that the media may be converted between formats. Althoughthe remainder of this description will be described using formats mostapplicable to video, it should be understood that this is for ease ofdescription, and not by way of limitation.

Environment 100 may also include a network 425. The network 425 may be anetwork such as the network described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 3(e.g. a 5G network). Although described with respect to a 5G network, itshould be understood that the techniques described herein are applicableto any type of network that provides the functionality described below.Suitable networks could also include 3G, LTE, WiFi, etc. networks.

The network may include a RAN 430 which allows for wirelesscommunication between the device 411 and the network 425. As describedabove the RAN 430 allows the device 411 to connect to externalendpoints. The network may also include a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC)node 460. The MEC 460 may be implemented as a network function usingdedicated hardware or as a network virtual function. The MEC could beimplemented anywhere within the network as described in FIG. 1 . In oneexample implementation, the MEC could be implemented collocated with theRAN 430. It should be understood that this is simply an exampleimplementation and is not intended to be limiting.

The network 425 may also include a charging function 435. The chargingfunction 435 may be used to measure the usage of the network by device411 for purposes of billing the user 410 for use of the network. Forexample, the charging function may monitor the amount of data thatdevice 411 is sending over the network 425. As will be explained infurther detail below, the MEC 460 may have the ability to generate datastreams that are allowed to bypass the charging function 435, thuspreventing the user 410 from being billed for that usage.

The environment 400 may also include social media website 440. Theparticular social media website is of no particular importance. Whatshould be understood is that the social media website 440 may receivestreamed media from a user, such as user 410 using user device 411. Thesocial media website 440 may then make that streamed media available tothe public.

The environment 400 may also include a Public Safety Access Point (PSAP)450. A PSAP may be a location, such as a call center, where requests forpublic safety assistance may be received. In the United States, the mostcommon PSAPs 450 are 911 call centers that handle emergency calls.Although the PSAP 450 performs many functions, for ease of descriptiononly a subset of those functions are described. The PSAP 450 may monitorthe media streams originated from the social media websites. The PSAP450 may also request the media be sent to the PSAP in a different formatthan that which was sent to the social media website.

In operation, the user 410 may see an event that is considered to be ofinterest. In this particular example, the event of interest may be aphysical fight 415 between two individuals. It should be understood thatthe specific event of interest is of little importance. What shouldunderstood is that the user 410 feels the event is of sufficientinterest that they wish to use their device 411 to capture the incidentand stream the incident to a social media site 440.

The user 410 may then user their device 411 to begin recording video ofthe event 415 and streaming the video to the social media website. Thestreamed media may be sent in a first format. Some examples of formatparameters may include a resolution of the video (e.g. 720p standarddefinition, 1080p high definition, 4 k ultra high definition, etc.), aframe rate of the video (e.g. 30 frames per second, 60 frames persecond, etc.) or a particular video coder/decoder (codec) that is used.

The format used to send the media stream may be constrained in multipleways. For example, the social media website 440 may only accept certainformats (e.g. video greater than 720p not accepted, frame rates above 30not accepted, limited number of supported codecs, etc.). The device 411will typically have an app associated with the social media websiteinstalled for purposes of streaming media, and that app may restrict theformats that may be used when streaming to the social media website.

The restriction on formats may also come from the user themselves. Asmentioned above, the charging function 435 may bill the user based onnetwork usage. In general, higher quality formats user more data thanlower quality formats and as such steaming media in a higher qualityuses more data and thus costs more. The user 410 may wish to limit theamount that is spent when streaming media and thus may limit theparticular formats used.

The media stream in the initial format is depicted by the dashed line420. The media 420 is received by the RAN 430, passes through thecharging function 435 for billing purposes, and is then sent to thesocial media website 440. The social media website may then send themedia stream out to the public. One particular recipient of that mediastream sent by the social media website 440 may be the PSAP 450. Asshown by dotted line 452, the media stream in the first format may besent to the PSAP 450.

The PSAP 450 may then monitor the media stream 452 to identify events ofinterest to public safety. For example, the physical fight 415, becauseit involves a potential crime, may be of interest to public safetypersonnel. Other events (e.g. a person streaming video of a cute dog,etc.) may not be of interest to the PSAP. In some implementations,personnel at the PSAP 450 may manually monitor media streams from socialmedia websites to identify events of interest. Alternatively, PSAPs 450may implement sophisticated analytics 454 to automatically review mediastreams and identify those that may be of interest. Such analyticstechniques are known and the techniques described herein are suitablefor use with any currently available or later developed analyticstechniques.

Once a media stream of interest is identified, it may be determined ifthe media stream is in a format that is suitable for use by publicsafety personnel. As explained above, the quality of the media streamsent from the user device 411 may be limited by many factors includingthe social media website 440 and the user themselves. In some cases thatquality may not be sufficient for public safety use. For example, videoin 720p resolution may not be sufficiently clear for identifyingsuspects in a criminal event.

If the analytics 454 determine that the media stream received from thesocial media website 440 is acceptable, no further action is taken. Ifhowever, the format of the media stream is not acceptable, the analytics454 may notify a media request module 458. The media request module maysend a request to the network 425 for the media stream to be sent in aformat (typically a higher quality format) than what is being sent tothe social media website. In particular the media request module 458 maysend a request 459 to the MEC 460 requesting the media stream in asecond format (e.g. the higher quality format, etc.).

The MEC 460 may include a format change request module 462 to receivethe request 459 from the media request module 458. The format changemodule may then send a request 463 to the device 411 for the media to bestreamed in the format that has been requested by the media requestmodule 458. It should be noted that the ability to receive the request463 by the device 411 may be dependent on either an app being installedon the user device 411 or the functionality being included in the appprovided by the social media website 440 for media streaming. It shouldfurther be understood that the request 463 to stream media in the secondformat is just that, a request. In some implementations, the user 410may be prompted for approval prior to any format change.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example environment 500 in which a format changerequest may be accepted without incurring additional costs according tothe techniques described herein. In FIG. 5 , it is assumed that the user410 has accepted the request 463 to begin streaming in the secondformat. The device 411, upon acceptance of the request 463 to stream themedia in the second format begins streaming in the second format asshown by solid line 422. Just as with media stream 420, the media streamis sent to the RAN 430.

However, instead of being sent directly to the social media website 440through the charging function 435, the media stream 422 is instead sentto a public safety connector 464 of the MEC 460. The public safetyconnector 464 may be connected with the PSAP 450 using an interface thatallows the streamed media in the second format to be sent to the PSAP asindicated by the line 465. Thus the PSAP 450 is able to receive thestreamed media 422 in the requested second format. The particular formof the connection between the MEC 460 and the PSAP 450 is relativelyunimportant. Currently PSAPs have the ability to received streamed mediafrom many different sources through readily available applicationprogramming interfaces and publically available websites.

In one implementation, the PSAP 450 is connected to the network 425 inthe same manner that the device 411 is connected. The media stream 411sent in the second format may then be sent to the PSAP 450 using aseparate network slice than that which is used to send the media streamin the first format to the social media website 440. In some cases, thenetwork slice used to send the media in the second format to the PSAP450 may be a dedicated network slice. By using a dedicated networkslice, it can be ensured that an end to end quality of service level forthe media stream in the second format can be maintained.

In addition to sending the media stream in the second format 465 to thePSAP 450, the public safety connector 464 also sends the media stream inthe second format 467 to the media conversion service 466. The mediaconversion service 466 converts the media from the second format backinto the first format. It should be understood that performing thisconversion on the MEC 460 is preferable to performing it on the device411 because it does not require the device to perform extra processing,which would in turn lead to extra battery use.

The media stream 468, depicted by the dashed line is now back to theoriginal format 420. The media conversion service then sends the mediastream in the first format 468 to the charging function 435, which thensends it on to the social media website 440. It should be understoodthat from the perspective of the social media website, there is nodifference between the streams 420 and 468. As such, the stream 468meets all criteria specified by the social media website 440. Likewise,since the stream seen by the charging function is also the same, thereis no difference in the amount the user is charged. Thus, public safetyis able to receive the media stream in the desired format without theuser 410 incurring any additional charges.

FIG. 6 is an example of a message sequence diagram 600 in accordancewith the techniques described herein. The elements described withrespect to FIG. 6 are generally consistent with those described withrespect to FIGS. 4 and 5 and are numbered similarly. For purposes ofease of description, the description of those elements is not repeatedhere. Message sequence diagram 600 includes a user device 611, a radioaccess network 630, a social media website 640, a public safety accesspoint 650, and a mobile edge computing node 660. The mobile edgecomputing node 660 includes a media conversion service 666, a formatchange request module 662, and a public safety connector 664.

In operation, the user device may stream 670 media in a first format tothe RAN 630. Although not shown, the media stream in the first format670 may include metadata associated with the stream (e.g. geolocation ofwhere the stream is recorded, etc.). The RAN 630 may then send 672 themedia stream in the first format to the social media website 640. Thesocial media website 640 may the make the media stream publicallyaccessible (not shown). The metadata received with the stream in thefirst format may not be distributed on the publically available socialmedia website 640.

The PSAP 650 may monitor the public, social media website media streamto determine if there are any of interest to the PSAP. If there are, andthe first format is suitable for use by the PSAP 650, the PSAP maysimply use that stream. However it may be detected by the PSAP 650 thatthe media stream of interest is needed in a second format 674.Typically, this will mean the media stream is needed in a higher qualityformat, but the techniques described herein are not so limited.

The PSAP 650 may send a request to the MEC 660 for a format change. Inparticular, the request for the format change 676 may be sent to aformat change request module 662. The format change request module 662may send a request 678 to the user device 611 to begin the stream in thesecond format as needed by the PSAP 650. Upon receipt of the request,the user device 611 may prompt the user to accept the request (notshown). Assuming the user accepts the request, the user device 611 maystop the media stream in the first format, and begin the media stream inthe second format 680 and send the media stream in the second format tothe RAN 630. It should be noted that the media stream in the secondformat includes the metadata.

The RAN 630 may provide the media stream in the second format to the MEC660. In particular, the media stream in the second format including theassociated metadata 682 may be sent to the public safety connector 664module. The public safety connector module may provide the media streamin the second format, including the associated metadata 684 to the PSAP650. In addition, the public safety connector 664 module may provide themedia stream in the second format including the associated metadata 686to the media conversion service 666 of the MEC 660.

The media conversion service 666 may convert the media stream to thefirst format 688. The media stream in the first format may then beprovided 690 to the social media website. As should be clear, from theperspective of the social media website, the media stream in the firstformat 672 is the same as the converted media stream in the first format690.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are an example of a flow diagram 700 in accordance withthe streaming media without incurring additional user costs techniquesdescribed herein. In block 705, a media stream from a mobile device maybe received at a communications network. The media stream being streamedfrom the mobile device to a social media platform. The media streambeing streamed in a first format. As explained above, a user may,independently of any public safety involvement, desire to stream a mediato a social media site that allows live streaming of media.

In many cases, the type of media will be video (including associatedaudio), however the techniques described herein are not limited to videoonly. The media stream may be sent in a first format. The specificchoice of the first format is not relevant and some example formats aredescribed below. What should be understood is that the first format isone that is acceptable by both the user (for purposes of data usagewhich may incur costs on the user) and the social media website (whichmay wish to only allow streaming media in specific formats and/orbandwidth usage.

In block 710, in one example, the communications network furthercomprises a 5G Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) node configured to receivethe request from the PSAP, convert the media stream received from themobile device in the second format to the first format, send the mediastream received in the second format to the PSAP, and send the convertedmedia stream in the first format to the social media platform. Theprocess of conversion of the media stream from one format to anotherwill be described in further detail below.

What should be understood is that in one example implementation, thecommunications network is a 5G network, and the media stream conversionoccurs in a MEC node, which may be a physical or virtual node. In otherexample implementations, the communications network may be a 3G orLTE/4G network with the MEC functionality provided at a differentlocation within the network (e.g. within the packet core network). Whatshould be understood is that the techniques described herein aresuitable for use with any type of communications network, not just a 5Gbased network. The techniques are also suitable for use with any laterdeveloped communications network technology that is capable of providingthe functionality of the MEC described herein.

In block 715, a request may be received, from a Public Safety AccessPoint (PSAP), at the communications network. The request may be arequest to stream the media stream from the mobile device to the PSAP,the request including a request for the media stream from the mobiledevice in a second format. As explained above, in some cases, the PSAPmay be monitoring media streams from the social media website. Themonitoring may occur manually or via known automated video analytics. Insome cases, the media stream from the social media website may be ofinterest to public safety officials. In some cases, the media streambeing sent by the mobile device (e.g. in the first format, etc.) may notbe suitable for use for public safety purposes. In many cases, it maynot be suitable because the quality is considered too low. However,there could be situations where the streamed media is not suitable foruse because the quality is too high.

In block 720, a request may be sent to the mobile device to send themedia stream in the second format. In some cases, the request may besent to a standalone app (e.g. an app associated with the public safetysystem) on the mobile device to receive the request to being streamingin the second format. In other cases, the social media website appinstalled on the user device may be configured to receive the request.Regardless of how received, the request to request is received at theuser device. In the case of a 5G implementation including a MEC, therequest may originate from a format change request module within theMEC.

In block 725, a response from the mobile device may be received. Theresponse may indicate that the mobile device has accepted the request tosend the media stream in the second format. As explained above, in someimplementations, permission must first be obtained from the user of thedevice streaming media prior to changing the format. As such, if theuser rejects the request to begin streaming media in the second format,then the PSAP may be limited to whatever processing it can do with themedia stream as it is being sent out by the social media site.

In block 730, the media stream received from the mobile device in thesecond format can be converted to the first format. In other words, thefirst format that was initially received from the user device can berecreated from the media stream in the second format. As will beexplained in further detail below, the converted media stream may thenbe sent to the social media website. The media conversion may occurwithin the media conversion service of the MEC in a 5G implementation.In implementations using other network types, the conversion can be donewithin any suitable similar network entity.

Block 735 is an example of first and second formats wherein the firstformat and the second format are different resolutions, wherein thesecond format is a higher resolution than the first format. Media, inparticular video media, can be captured in multiple, differentresolutions. For example, 720p (standard definition), 1080p (highdefinition), and 4 k (ultra high definition). It should be noted that inmany cases, the second format may be a higher resolution than the firstformat. However, this may not always be true. For example, the socialmedia website may accept streaming video in 4 k UHD, while the PSAP mayonly be capable of receiving 1080p HD. In such a case, the phone wouldcontinue to send video at the higher resolution to the video conversionservice of the MEC, which would then convert the media stream to thelower resolution for sending on to the PSAP.

Block 740 is another example of first and second formats wherein thefirst format and the second format are different frame rates, whereinthe second format is higher frame rate than the first format. Forexample, a first frame rate may be 30 frames per second(fps), while thesecond frame rate may be 60 fps. The media may initially be streamed tothe social media website at 30 fps, which may not be suitable for use bythe PSAP, which may require 60 fps.

Block 745 is yet another example of first and second formats wherein thefirst format and the second format are different media codecs. Mediastreams may rely on video and audio coders/decoders, also referred to ascodecs, to convert captured video into a format that is more easilytransmitted over a network (e.g. compression, audio encoding schemes,video encoding schemes, etc.). Codecs tend to not be compatible witheach other. As such, if the PSAP is only capable of using one type ofcodec, that is different than the first format, it may request thestream in a second format that uses the codec compatible with the PSAP.

It should be noted that although three formats (resolution, frame rate,and codec) were described, this was for purposes of ease of descriptiononly. Any types of different formats are suitable for use with thetechniques described herein. It should also be understood that a formatneed not be defined by a single parameter and could be a combination ofparameters. For example, a first format may be a media stream in 720p,at 30 fps, using codec A, while a second format could be the same mediastream at 1080p, at 60 fps, using codec B.

In block 750, the media stream received in the second format may be sentto the PSAP. For example, the media conversion service may send themedia received from the user device (in the second format, assuming therequest was accepted) can be sent directly to the PSAP. AS the secondformat was requested by the PSAP, it can directly use the media streamsent in that format.

In block 755, the media stream received in the second format that issent to the PSAP bypasses a charging function of the communicationsnetwork associated with the mobile device. As mentioned above, one ofthe problems solved herein is that the user should not be charged forhigher data usage when the second format is more data intensive than thefirst format. As such, the stream to the PSAP may completely bypass acharging function associated with the user. Although not shown, it ispossible that the media stream sent to the PSAP in the second format maypass through a charging function associated with the PSAP, thus causingall costs for the streaming to the PSAP to be incurred by the PSAP. Whatshould be understood is that although someone may be paying for theextra data use, it will not be the user that streamed media to thesocial media website.

In block 760, metadata associated with the social media platform may besent to the PSAP. As mentioned above, the media stream sent from theuser device to the social media website may include metadata that thesocial media website does not send out to the public. For example, thegeolocation of the user may be sent to the social media website, butthat information is not broadcast out to the public. Other examples mayinclude the user's phone IMSI, their userTD on the social media website(e.g. not their public username), their phone number, etc. This metadata may be useful to the PSAP. As such, the meta data associated withthe social media platform may be sent to the PSAP along with the mediastream in the second format.

In block 765, the converted media stream in the first format may be sentto the social media platform. For example, the media conversion serviceof the MEC may convert the media back to the first format, and send iton to the social media website. As this is the format that the socialmedia website originally received, there is no change on the part of thesocial media website. Furthermore, the converted media stream may besent through the charging function associated with the user. Thus theuser may still be billed for the data that would have been usedoriginally (e.g. for the data used sending the media stream in the firstformat).

In block 770, the media stream received in the second format that issent to the PSAP is sent via a network slice that is different than anetwork slice used to send the media stream in the first format to thesocial media platform. As mentioned above, network slices are a conceptin 5G networks that allows for end to end data transmission with definedlevels of quality of service(QoS). In some implementations data sent tothe PSAP may use a slice with higher QoS parameters than the slice usedto send data to the social media website.

In block 775, the converted media stream is sent via a dedicated networkslice. In some cases, the network may be implemented such that a certaintype of traffic, for example traffic to a specific destination, may beaggregated onto a single network slice that is only used for thatdestination. By segregating a network as such, QoS may be guaranteed forapplications transmitting data using the dedicated slice.

As should be apparent from this detailed description, the operations andfunctions of the electronic computing device are sufficiently complex asto require their implementation on a computer system, and cannot beperformed, as a practical matter, in the human mind. Electroniccomputing devices such as set forth herein are understood as requiringand providing speed and accuracy and complexity management that are notobtainable by human mental steps, in addition to the inherently digitalnature of such operations (e.g., a human mind cannot interface directlywith RAM or other digital storage, cannot transmit or receive electronicmessages, electronically encoded video, electronically encoded audio,etc., and cannot convert streaming media from one format to another,among other features and functions set forth herein).

Example embodiments are herein described with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to example embodiments. It will beunderstood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or blockdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The methods and processes set forth herein neednot, in some embodiments, be performed in the exact sequence as shownand likewise various blocks may be performed in parallel rather than insequence. Accordingly, the elements of methods and processes arereferred to herein as “blocks” rather than “steps.”

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational blocks to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide blocks for implementing the functions/acts specifiedin the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. It iscontemplated that any part of any aspect or embodiment discussed in thisspecification can be implemented or combined with any part of any otheraspect or embodiment discussed in this specification.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings. The benefits,advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause anybenefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced arenot to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features orelements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely bythe appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency ofthis application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”,“having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . .a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”,“approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “one of”, without a morelimiting modifier such as “only one of”, and when applied herein to twoor more subsequently defined options such as “one of A and B” should beconstrued to mean an existence of any one of the options in the listalone (e.g., A alone or B alone) or any combination of two or more ofthe options in the list (e.g., A and B together).

A device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way isconfigured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways thatare not listed.

The terms “coupled”, “coupling” or “connected” as used herein can haveseveral different meanings depending in the context in which these termsare used. For example, the terms coupled, coupling, or connected canhave a mechanical or electrical connotation. For example, as usedherein, the terms coupled, coupling, or connected can indicate that twoelements or devices are directly connected to one another or connectedto one another through an intermediate elements or devices via anelectrical element, electrical signal or a mechanical element dependingon the particular context.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readablestorage medium having computer readable code stored thereon forprogramming a computer (e.g., comprising a processor) to perform amethod as described and claimed herein. Any suitable computer-usable orcomputer readable medium may be utilized. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. In the context of this document, a computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill, notwithstandingpossibly significant effort and many design choices motivated by, forexample, available time, current technology, and economicconsiderations, when guided by the concepts and principles disclosedherein will be readily capable of generating such software instructionsand programs and ICs with minimal experimentation. For example, computerprogram code for carrying out operations of various example embodimentsmay be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java,Smalltalk, C++, Python, or the like. However, the computer program codefor carrying out operations of various example embodiments may also bewritten in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the“C” programming language or similar programming languages. The programcode may execute entirely on a computer, partly on the computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the computer and partly on aremote computer or server or entirely on the remote computer or server.In the latter scenario, the remote computer or server may be connectedto the computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a communicationsnetwork, a media stream from a mobile device, the media stream beingstreamed from the mobile device to a social media platform, the mediastream being streamed in a first format; receiving, at thecommunications network, a request from a Public Safety Access Point(PSAP), to stream the media stream from the mobile device to the PSAP,the request including a request for the media stream from the mobiledevice in a second format; sending a request to the mobile device tosend the media stream in the second format; receiving, at thecommunications network, from the mobile device, the media stream in thesecond format: converting the media stream received from the mobiledevice in the second format to the first format; sending the mediastream received in the second format to the PSAP; and sending theconverted media stream in the first format to the social media platform.2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first format and the second formatare different resolutions, wherein the second format is a higherresolution than the first format.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein thefirst format and the second format are different frame rates, whereinthe second format is higher frame rate than the first format.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the first format and the second format aredifferent media codecs.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the mediastream received in the second format that is sent to the PSAP bypasses acharging function of the communications network associated with themobile device.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the media streamreceived in the second format that is sent to the PSAP is sent via anetwork slice that is different than a network slice used to send themedia stream in the first format to the social media platform.
 7. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the communications network further comprises a5G Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) node configured to receive the requestfrom the PSAP, convert the media stream received from the mobile devicein the second format to the first format, send the media stream receivedin the second format to the PSAP, and send the converted media stream inthe first format to the social media platform.
 8. The method of claim 7wherein the converted media stream is sent via a dedicated networkslice.
 9. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a responsefrom the mobile device, the response indicating the mobile device hasaccepted the request to send the media stream in the second format. 10.The method of claim 1 further comprising: sending metadata associatedwith the social media platform to the PSAP.
 11. A system comprising: aprocessor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory containinga set of instructions thereon that when executed by the processor causethe processor to: receive, at a communications network, a media streamfrom a mobile device, the media stream being streamed from the mobiledevice to a social media platform, the media stream being streamed in afirst format; receive, at the communications network, a request from aPublic Safety Access Point (PSAP), to stream the media stream from themobile device to the PSAP, the request including a request for the mediastream from the mobile device in a second format; send a request to themobile device to send the media stream in the second format; receive, atthe communications network, from the mobile device, the media stream inthe second format; convert the media stream received from the mobiledevice in the second format to the first format; send the media streamreceived in the second format to the PSAP; and send the converted mediastream in the first format to the social media platform.
 12. The systemof claim 11 wherein the media stream received in the second format thatis sent to the PSAP bypasses a charging function of the communicationsnetwork associated with the mobile device.
 13. The system of claim 11wherein the communications network further comprises a 5G Mobile EdgeComputing (MEC) node configured to receive the request from the PSAP,convert the media stream received from the mobile device in the secondformat to the first format, send the media stream received in the secondformat to the PSAP, and send the converted media stream in the firstformat to the social media platform.
 14. The system of claim 11 whereinthe memory further comprises instructions to: receive a response fromthe mobile device, the response indicating the mobile device hasaccepted the request to send the media stream in the second format. 15.The system of claim 11 wherein the memory further comprises instructionsto: send metadata associated with the social media platform to the PSAP.16. A non-transitory processor readable medium containing a set ofinstructions thereon that when executed by a processor cause theprocessor to: receive, at a communications network, a media stream froma mobile device, the media stream being streamed from the mobile deviceto a social media platform, the media stream being streamed in a firstformat; receive, at the communications network, a request from a PublicSafety Access Point (PSAP), to stream the media stream from the mobiledevice to the PSAP, the request including a request for the media streamfrom the mobile device in a second format; send a request to the mobiledevice to send the media stream in the second format; receive, at thecommunications network, from the mobile device, the media stream in thesecond format; convert the media stream received from the mobile devicein the second format to the first format; send the media stream receivedin the second format to the PSAP; and send the converted media stream inthe first format to the social media platform.
 17. The medium of claim16 wherein the media stream received in the second format that is sentto the PSAP bypasses a charging function of the communications networkassociated with the mobile device.
 18. The medium of claim 16 whereinthe communications network further comprises a 5G Mobile Edge Computing(MEC) node configured to receive the request from the PSAP, convert themedia stream received from the mobile device in the second format to thefirst format, send the media stream received in the second format to thePSAP, and send the converted media stream in the first format to thesocial media platform.
 19. The medium of claim 16 wherein the mediumfurther comprises instructions to: receive a response from the mobiledevice, the response indicating the mobile device has accepted therequest to send the media stream in the second format.
 20. The medium ofclaim 16 wherein the medium further comprises instructions to: sendmetadata associated with the social media platform to the PSAP.